Collaboration and confidence These are among the benefits that several volunteer leaders of the Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP) said they’ve recognized during a recent interview by The Rheumatologist. The membership of the ARHP is varied—advanced practice nurses, nurses, occupational therapists, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, epidemiologists, physician assistants, educators, clinicians and researchers—and six ARHP members talked to us about how their service on one or more committees has helped them achieve their professional goals.
Similarities exist in their experiences and impressions of committee service: rewarding work that is fun, plus the additional benefit of new personal and professional relationships with like-minded professionals.
Dr. Hassett thinks working with other ARHP members has improved her organizational and leadership skills. She has been impressed with the coordinated effort between the ACR and the ARHP, with 11 volunteers and two staff members, to put on the Annual Meeting. “I learned how hard it is to put [it] together.”
Her contributions have centered on promoting sessions that more effectively utilize technology (e.g., apps for patient self-management); creating RheumChat, which showcases talks inspired by TED Talks; and promoting Boot Camps for immunology and other topics that offer attendees a series of related talks over the course of the meeting.
Dr. Hassett’s research has focused on resiliency, and she brought that spirit to the 2014 meeting, where sessions highlighted patient strengths, well-being and how to help patients better self-manage their conditions.
Confidence
Greg Taylor, MSW, is a certified clinical social worker at the Mary Pack Arthritis Program at Vancouver General Hospital in British Columbia. During his two years as an ARHP member, he has found the main benefits of being a member are the publications, such as Arthritis Care & Research, access to the Annual Meeting and the expanded knowledge base he gains from both.
A former committee member encouraged him to join the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, and Mr. Taylor agreed because it sounded like a good way to make contact with like-minded professionals after his case load became more arthritis focused. He had previous experience with a hemophilia program.
As a member of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee, his assignment was to develop six topics for sessions at the Annual Meeting. “I thought about what I would like to learn about.” Reviewing and scoring abstracts also keeps him up to date with research.
Mr. Taylor’s involvement with the ARHP has affected him professionally by adding “confidence of practice, because you’re up to date regarding client care. It makes me more able to present clients with the best information, so they can make informed choices they are comfortable with” regarding their care.
“If [my colleagues] had any doubts about my commitment, they don’t now,” says Mr. Taylor, when asked how his colleagues react to his involvement. His membership in the ARHP is “an acknowledgment that I’m walking the walk, not just talking the talk.” He’s made a commitment to something bigger than his individual practice.
The hospital administration acknowledges that his involvement is good for the program, but there “isn’t the budget to actively support it.” He uses his own funds and vacation time to attend meetings.
Mr. Taylor thinks his being a Canadian allows for an additional perspective on the committee. He notes, “It may help to identify emerging trends in either Canada or America when one is exposed to rheumatologic issues current in either country. For example, there were sessions on medicinal marijuana at this year’s ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, and it was fascinating to see the interest generated, especially since some issues were foreshadowed by Canadian legislative changes in 2001 when [the] government initially granted access to herbal cannabis to patients who have the support of a physician.”
Expanded Network
Mary Christenson, PT, PhD, is an associate professor at the School of Physical Therapy, Regis University in Denver. She has been a member of the ARHP for about 30 years, but didn’t serve on a committee until she was asked to chair the Clinical Focus Group in 2002. She helped develop the Clinical Focus Course that’s offered as a preconference session before the Annual Meeting.
Membership in the ARHP has given her the ability to network with a wide variety of healthcare providers and provided greater access to literature and research. It has also “increased my involvement in the clinical area of patient care.” In addition to helping her develop new friendships, Dr. Christenson’s committee work has allowed her to develop her leadership skills. Working with the great staff at the ACR/ARHP is a bonus, she says.
Dr. Christenson says the human and organizational resources she’s been able to form connections with are professionally helpful. She says the many committees she has served on and the chance to review RA brochures and abstracts have helped her as an academician. The personal benefits she has realized include greater confidence in her presentation and decision making.
Her colleagues know that Dr. Christenson is very involved in a national organization that promotes rheumatoid disease research and treatment. If that affects their opinion of her, she says, it’s that now “they see me as invested and committed.”
Asked what she’s learned from being active in AHRP, Dr. Christenson says she now has a better understanding of how committee structures work and how decisions are made. Learning how to work with different people from different backgrounds in a professional group has been beneficial, too.
A contribution Dr. Christenson feels she has made to the organization as a committee chair is her focus on hearing everybody and engaging in active listening to include others in the decision making. She sees herself as a team player and problem solver.
Relationship Building
Scott Hasson, EdD, PT, FACSM, FAPTA, is a professor and chairman of the Physical Therapy Department at Georgia Regents University, Augusta, Ga. He has also been the editor of Physiotherapy Theory & Practice since 1995. He has been an ARHP member for 25 years.
ARHP is the only organization, Dr. Hasson says, other than the American College of Sports Medicine, where the patient is the center. He appreciates the respect shared among medical group colleagues. When they all meet, the focus is on clinical care of patients.
His first committee assignment was the Practice Committee. And he served because he was asked. “As a dedicated researcher [then],” says Dr. Hasson, “I had to be selfish and say no to other commitments.” Since deciding to get involved in areas outside research, he has served on five to seven task forces or committees.
“As I moved away from scientific focus to administration, the relationships that developed provided avenues for advancement and for funding and research. Building relationships with other members and ARHP staff, collaborating with people from Norway to Iran to Brazil and just meeting interesting people along the way helps me focus.”
When asked if his colleagues see him differently because of ARHP membership and service, Dr. Hasson says, “Faculty [members] know I go to a meeting in the fall and serve on committees.”
He says participating in the ARHP allows him to “see things differently than colleagues whose worlds are much smaller.” He feels he has a larger perception from the meetings he attends and the international networks he has built.
“I’d like to be recognized as someone who fully supported the organization and was generous with my time and ideas,” Dr. Hasson says. “I like to think I’m pretty easy to get along with and willing to serve.”
Learning Opportunities
Jessica Farrell, PharmD, is a clinical pharmacist at Albany (N.Y.) College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She has been a member of the ARHP since late 2008. The first committee she served on was the ARHP Preconference Task Force. She felt being involved with committee work was a way to further her education, because there was no specialty training in rheumatology within her pharmacy education. “Being asked to serve on additional committees,” says Dr. Farrell, “tells me that I have leadership skills and that my ideas are valued.”
The primary benefits of ARHP membership have been the opportunity to work with different rheumatology professionals and learn from them. “There are no mid- or high-level rheumatologists in my practice,” Dr. Farrell says, so the relationships she has developed provided learning experiences she couldn’t get from her immediate surroundings.
The relationships with colleagues from different institutions offer different perspectives on rheumatoid diseases and treatments, which Dr. Farrell believes increase her ability to treat patients.
She feels her involvement “has increased my visibility as a pharmacist who practices in the field of rheumatology and allowed me to meet service requirements.”
Dr. Farrell was instrumental in revamping the Medication Quick Guides for the Practice Committee. in 2013, The Rheumatologist published an article she wrote, “The Role of the Pharmacist in Rheumatology Disease.”
Networking
Deborah A. McCloskey, BSN, RN, CCRC, is a nurse manager in the Clinical Research Center of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. She has been an ARHP member for 26 years.
To her, membership benefits include the “ability to communicate with and ask other health professionals about rheumatoid diseases. Networking is huge. Arthritis Care & Research is valuable for its high-quality articles.” Ms. McCloskey also appreciates the educational opportunities and “uses the practice guidelines all the time.”
When she was presented with a volunteer form, she checked a lot of boxes, Ms. McCloskey says. “I’m the kind who likes to get involved.” Her first committee was the Advocacy Committee, which addresses legislative and regulatory issues affecting those with rheumatoid diseases, where she worked for legislation regarding patient rights.
Ms. McCloskey especially enjoyed serving as a member-at-large on the Executive Committee. “That was cool. To see what decisions they make and how they go about making them.” After being inactive for a while because of other demands on her time, she served on the Nominating Committee. In addition to putting together a candidate slate for elections, the committee worked on getting more volunteers and deciding how to spread those volunteers among the jobs that needed to be done. She was also involved in the awards processes.
‘The years I’ve been engaged are more rewarding. We have a lot of fun. We work hard.’
Personally, Ms. McCloskey says she has made a lot of friends. She gets personal satisfaction from her involvement. “It’s more rewarding as a member to feel I’m contributing and advancing the organization.” That sense of reward extends to the professional level, too. “Every time I come back from a committee meeting, I’m revved up and have a renewed spirit.”
Attending the Annual Meeting is invaluable, she feels, because of the scientific, clinical and educational updates, not to mention the networking.
After the Annual Meeting, nurses and doctors debrief together to share what they separately learned. The idea is, “How can we incorporate this into the practice?”
Asked how all this affects her colleagues, Ms. McCloskey says, “My involvement impacts the way they see volunteerism. They’re always eager to hear what I’ve learned at the conference. I download ACR SessionSelect to share. There are three sessions by an immunologist this year that I’m going to share with my co-workers.
“The annual conference keeps me up to date with the clinical and scientific updates. It is a concentrated, focused time. The organization is much more valuable to me when I’m more active. The years I’ve been engaged are more rewarding. We have a lot of fun. We work hard. The organization’s leadership is fun, too. We like what we do, so we like other people who do the same.
“Because I’m an RN, I bring clinical components to the table. I can comment on the feasibility of something,” says Ms. McCloskey. “I know that’s what I’m expected to contribute to the committee. I’ve been very happy with my experience. I’m really glad I got involved when I did.”
Ann-Marie Lindstrom is an independent writer and editor based in the Tucson, Ariz., area.
